


Frenzy

by Scytale



Category: Bacchae - Euripides, Greek and Roman Mythology
Genre: Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Corpse Desecration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 20:32:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16144964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scytale/pseuds/Scytale
Summary: Agave is lost.





	Frenzy

The god stands in the afternoon sun. His women crowd around him. _Bromius!_ they cry. Panting, they strain toward him, fingers grasping at his skirts, pressing their cheeks against him like cats do. They are still covered in lion's blood and they blood-smears upon him, and he smiles. 

Only Agave does not go. Agave hesitates. She yearns to join them, to bask in the golden presence of the god, but a buried, thwarted panic claws at her insides.

She should not go.

But the god's dark eyes meets hers, and he beckons to her, and she is lost.

She goes to him. The women set ivy along her brow, stroke her hair, pet her skin. Agave, blessed sister, returned to us. Agave, brave one, Agave lion-killer, who has brought such an offering to the god and her sisters.

It is wine that sticks down her face, that has run down to her breasts and her thighs; it is wine that dyes her chiton crimson. She licks her hand and the taste is sweet in its saltiness.

When her sisters form in a dance, she flies among them, tossing the lion's head. She howls, mimicking the beast's terror when it saw her coming, and her sisters laugh and clap their hands in glee.

The weight that filled her chest is gone. How fortunate is Thebes, blessed by the god, and how fortunate is Agave, who dances among his women, who defends them from beasts.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Written after seeing the brilliant Bacchae production by San Francisco ACT in May.


End file.
